Remarks by the President in Q&A with David Karp, CEO of Tumblr
State Dining Room
4:15 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
THE PRESIDENT: You don’t have to be so formal. (Laughter.) Sheesh. Come on, now.
MR. KARP: This is unusual. Thank you. Thank you, everyone, and welcome to the White House. Thank you for having us, Mr. President. I’m David Karp, the founder of Tumblr, and it is my tremendous privilege to be here with President Obama today and joined by the Tumblr community. Thank you for joining us, everyone.
Yesterday, the President signed an executive order intended to curb the pain of student debt. Americans now hold more than a trillion dollars in student debt, one of the greatest expenses they’ll incur in their lifetime. And the generation that’s just reaching college age is beginning to wonder if it’s even worth it.
One-third of Americans who have applied for an education loan this year also happen to use Tumblr, so last week we asked our audience if they had questions that they’d like to ask the President about the cost value and accessibility of higher education – turns out they had quite a few. We’re not going to be able to get through all of them today, but the President has been kind enough to give us some time at his house to answer some of those questions. (Laughter.)
So again, huge thank you for making yourself available today. Anything you’d like to add before we start?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, this is a rental house. (Laughter.) I just want to be clear. My lease runs out in about two and a half years.
Second of all, I want to thank David and the whole Tumblr community for participating in this. We’re constantly looking for new ways to reach audiences that are relevant to the things we’re talking about. And, obviously, young people disproportionately use Tumblr. A lot of Tumblr users are impacted by student debt. So for you to be able to give us this forum to speak directly to folks is wonderful, and I’m looking forward to a whole bunch of good questions.
MR. KARP: Thank you. Okay, so everybody is clear on how the questions work – so since we closed for questions at 5:00 p.m. yesterday, we brought together a team of influential Tumblr bloggers who helped us select some of the best questions. There are – a few of them, anyway, are joining us in the audience in the State Dining Room here today. Neither the White House nor the President have seen any of these questions in advance.
Should we get started?
THE PRESIDENT: Let’s go.
MR. KARP: All right. So, first came in from Caitlin (ph). I appreciate your willingness to work with legislators to attempt to retroactively diffuse the cost of some student’s loans by creating new repayment plans, but this seems to me like an attempt to put a band aid on a broken leg. What are we doing to actually lower the cost of a college degree – excuse me – of college tuition so these loans will no longer be necessary?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s a great question. Let me give people some context for what’s happened over the last 20, 30 years.
cont in link
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/10/remarks-president-qa-david-karp-ceo-tumblr